Pacers expect to face tough zone defense in Miami

Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said he expects to see plenty of zone defense when his team travels to Miami to face the Heat on Thursday night.

Carlisle said Indiana was "abysmal" across the last quarter-and-a-half against Milwaukee's sustained zone in a 120-112 loss on Tuesday. The Pacers held a 19-point, third-quarter lead before falling apart, giving the Heat a blueprint to follow of how to beat Carlisle's team.

"Games aren't 30 minutes long," he said. "The last 18 (minutes) were abysmal. We all own it. We lost our aggression, we lost everything that got us a pretty significant lead, and gave them a great opportunity, not only to get back in the game, but to win the game. We're going to have to learn some hard lessons from this and get ready to bounce back.

"Miami plays more zone than anybody in the league, so I'm sure that will get their attention as well."

Bennedict Mathurin led Indiana with 25 points, while Pascal Siakam added 20.

The Pacers' struggled to get stops as the game wore on, which meant the Bucks were able to set up defensively.

After hitting 11 of 27 shots from beyond the 3-point arc across the opening three periods, the Pacers went 2 of 10 in the fourth.

"We settled for outside shots," Carlisle said. "We didn't attack it (Milwaukee's zone) well, obviously. We weren't defending well, either. Poor defense allows teams to score and get into zones, so it was the double-whammy."

Indiana and Miami split their two meetings in Indianapolis earlier this season, in consecutive games in November.

The Heat's defense was in order and their offense flowing in a clinical 119-108 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night as Miami began a back-to-back set and opened a three-game homestand.

Jimmy Butler, who has been at the center of trade speculation in recent weeks, returned after missing five games with a stomach illness. He played in his usual starting role but in limited minutes --24 -- and finished with nine points.

Tyler Herro led the Heat with 32 points.

"He is continuing to gain confidence offensively," coach Erik Spoelstra said of Herro. "He has (the) responsibility to make a lot of plays for us offensively.

"He does it in a lot of different ways. Sometimes he's facilitating and playing off the ball, letting other guys create. Then the ball will find him. But one way or another, we want him to put his imprint on things offensively."

Bam Adebayo finished just shy of his second triple-double of the season, amassing 23 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.

The Heat's unselfish, slick ball movement led to them chalking up 34 assists on 44 made shots, with Adebayo leading the way.

"You certainly want to build some kind of offensive continuity where everybody feels like they're involved, everybody feels like they're who they want to be and they feel like they can impact the game offensively," Spoelstra said. "You have to share the ball and do little things -- screen assists, sometimes it's the pass that actually doesn't count as an assist. Then of course the ball has to go in.

"That makes a lot of things look better."

--Field Level Media